Review of Mike and Dave Need Wedding Dates (2016) by Andrew M — 14 Jul 2016

Is it rather stupid, juvenile and predictable most of the time? Yes, I'll readily admit that. But the main 4 actors have so much charisma that it actually becomes weirdly charming.

Basic premise: Mike (DeVine) and Dave (Efron) are two brothers who constantly screw up family gatherings with their bachelor shenanigans, and their sister and parents declare the two must bring dates to her upcoming wedding to rein them in. After the boys appear on TV, Tatiana (Plaza) meddles a plan together to become those dates in order to get her friend Alice (Kendrick) a free vacation to help her overcome being left at the altar. Turns out the girls are not the nice girls the boys were looking for.

There are sexist stereotypes going both ways all over this (but let's be clear, more one than the other), which is the main failing here. There are also a couple of scenes that go on just a bit too long due to DeVine hamming it up. A couple of tropes, like a liar-revealed arc, that would also normally bug me. The lesbian cousin bit I think also went way to far.

But damnit I laughed, even if I was ashamed at a couple of them. The four actors all have good chemistry together. Kendrick and Efron make a surprisingly sweet on-screen couple, which is then offset nicely by the more abrasive relationship between Plaza and DeVine. When the story focused on the four trying to do what they thought was right for selfish reasons, and them coming to realize they screwed up by not doing what was actually right for the others, it really worked.

(Sidenote: Hmmm *looks in mirror* suppose someone should learn from that?).

Yes, it has problems, but overall it amused me. It's nothing special, but it's worth checking out if you like the actors.